The FBI is investigating Chinese economic espionage in nearly all of its 56 field offices around the country, underscoring the depth of the threat to US business, Director Christopher Wray told Congress Tuesday. “China writ large is the most significant counterintelligence threat we face,” Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee in a hearing on foreign threats. “We have economic espionage investigations, for example -- that’s just one piece of it -- in virtually every ...

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Tuesday sent Congress a list of legislative changes required to implement the new US-Mexico-Canada trade pact, a key step in the approval process for replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement. The list includes changes to US laws governing rules of origin for autos, which is significantly different from NAFTA, including a requirement that North American-built autos include significant content in plants with wages averaging at least $16 an ...

Democrats on Tuesday picked Stacey Abrams, who rose to prominence in her heated but unsuccessful Georgia governor’s race, to deliver the rebuttal to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, a first for an African-American woman. The president will give his annual speech on February 5 before a joint session of Congress, after it was postponed because of the partial government shutdown. Abrams is a former Georgia legislative leader but holds no current political office, an unusual ...

The US Senate advanced legislation reaffirming support for allies in the Middle East on Monday, including fresh sanctions on Syria and a measure that combats the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel over its policies toward the Palestinians. Democrats had blocked the package in the Senate during the 35-day partial government shutdown, saying the chamber should first consider legislation to reopen the government. But after Friday’s agreement to end the shutdown at ...

President Donald Trump on Thursday cancelled the US delegation’s trip to the annual international conference at Davos, saying the officials were needed in Washington to tackle the shutdown of the federal government.“Out of consideration for the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay and to ensure his team can assist as needed, President Trump has canceled his Delegation’s trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,” said a statement from Press ...

Ryann Solomon knew the shutdown would affect her business, she just didn’t realize how much. “I got calls from people canceling appointments from the first week,” she said. Solomon owns ‘Ryannimals’ - a small dog-walking business in Washington, D.C. She says she usually works with around 23 dogs a day, taking them out for walks, sometimes twice a day, while their owners are at work. But since the shutdown, federal workers and contractors no longer need her services. ...

President Donald Trump threatened to keep the US government partially shut for months or years on Friday after he and Democratic leaders failed to resolve their dispute over Trump’s request for $5.6 billion to build a wall on the Mexican border. After Democratic congressional leaders refused Trump’s requests at a meeting in the White House Situation Room, the Republican president threatened to take the controversial step of declaring a national emergency and building the ...

A US Marine died of a gunshot wound while on duty early Tuesday at the Marine Barracks in Washington, media reported.The death occurred around 5:00 am (1000 GMT), CNN reported. Authorities determined that there was no threat to the surrounding area in southeast Washington.But otherwise, details were scant.The dead marine’s identity was not released.A spokeswoman for the city’s Metropolitan Police said an investigation was in its early stages but that for now, no criminal charges had ...

Alan Naiman was known for an unabashed thriftiness that veered into comical, but even those closest to him had no inkling of the fortune that he quietly amassed and the last act that he had long planned.The Washington state social worker died of cancer this year at age 63, leaving most of a surprising $11 million estate to children’s charities that help the poor, sick, disabled and abandoned. The amount baffled the beneficiaries and his best friends, who are lauding Naiman as the ...

America’s national farewell to George H.W. Bush began Monday as the 41st US president was placed in the US Capitol to lie in state.Members of the military served as pallbearers, carrying the flag-draped casket from a hearse into the rotunda.His remains arrived Monday afternoon at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington aboard an aircraft that often serves as Air Force One. Former President George W. Bush, the eldest of the four Bush sons, and his wife, Laura, along with brother Neil Bush and ...